MALAYA - A TIMELINE

Greetings,

In fits and starts, I scour the non-fiction shelves and online articles on culture and World War II, besides combing through the latest novels. A lifelong habit. Geeky perhaps, but I enjoy it. Gaining an overview is, as always, my first step when exploring new areas of research. It acts as a ‘map’ for me.

Because my narratives are set in Malaya, where Singapore was a part, I thought a timeline would be helpful in rendering the backdrop in which they dwell. For the sake of brevity, I have omitted much of the country’s fascinating history. I have also skewed it from the 19th century onward, fleshing out on aspects relevant to my current and future books. Or simply because certain morsels are intriguing.

Though not vital, some historical context may enrich your enjoyment of my stories.

I will update as I publish further tales.

Malaya, Straits Settlements, Malaysia & Singapore… What’s what?

The land of Malaya, with Singapore Island off its southern tip, enjoys a rich past. A diverse, enthralling history which rivals, for instance, the British Isles. Despite evidence from the 2nd century depicting it as a crossroads between the West and the Orient, it has gained less focus from scholars compared to say Europe or America. And less exposure in the media. Records show it as a metaphorical and literal portal linking both halves of the world. It continues as such.

Since, or perhaps prior, the region in its varied forms thrived as a confluence of races, ethnicities and cultures, and East-West trade routes. It spurred the intertwining of peoples. It became contested among the native and neighbouring kingdoms and fiefs. Then the far distant foreigners entered the fray. The Ming Chinese dipped their toes first, ahead of sowing firm roots, while the Japanese made inroads in the wake. After them, the Portuguese, Dutch and British came, elbows swinging wide, each vying for a slice of the ‘pie’.

The faiths jostled too. Hinduism and Buddhism arrived earliest over 1,700 years ago, followed by Christianity and Islam in the 7th and 14th century apiece. Yet there are the Taoists. Besides the sceptics.

And with the sea lanes crossing untold jungle-clad islands, hidden coves and caves, the pirates flourished.

Today’s free nations of Singapore and Malaysia arose from this vivid setting.

In a Nutshell - 1941 onward

There are misconceptions about the region, including ‘Malaya and Malaysia are identical’ and ‘Singapore is a part of Malaysia.’ Either is fathomable, given their shared past. But not the odd, baffling belief that ‘Singapore is in China.’ ‘Wot? Poppycock!’ as my sleuth DCI Bythesea (from A Noble Fate) would no doubt remark. The ensuing outline of the entities since WWII should set things straight. I hope.

In 1941, Malaya comprised the Malay States - ruled by their sultans but British protected - along with the Straits Settlements of Malacca; Penang and Province Wellesley; the Dindings; and Singapore. The latter, their ‘jewel’, was where the British planted their seat of government. ‘British Malaya’ was their collective title.

After the war, the British dissolved the Straits Settlements in 1946, while Singapore became a Crown Colony. Penang, Malacca and the Dindings, with the Malay states, formed the new Malayan Union.

Thereafter, Malaya gained autonomy from the United Kingdom in 1957, as Singapore lasted under its rule. Then, in 1963, Malaya welcomed the island, Sarawak and Sabah, and arose as ‘Malaysia’. The oil-rich state of Brunei saw fit to stand singly.

Discord led Malaysia to expel Singapore from the alliance two years later. The tiny isle thus became self-ruling on 9 Aug 1965 with - to conform to its main ethnic groups - four official languages: Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil. Apart from bilingual schooling, they speak a patois referred to as ‘Singlish’. It comprises English blended with words from up to two or three other tongues. Yet, they are adept in the Asian dialects.

Southeast Asia - Map, 1981

Ancient History

200

The ancient Hindu Malay kingdoms of Langkasuka and Gangga Negara emerge

673

I-Tsing, a monk, is the earliest known visitation of a person from China, encountering Kedah on his way to India

1280

The Siamese occupy the northern tracts of the Malay peninsula

1299

Sang Nila Utama founds the Kingdom of Singapura, a name derived from ancient Sanskrit, meaning ‘Lion City’

1303

Islam reaches Terengganu

1330

Wang Dayuan, a Chinese voyager, visits Singapura and chronicles an attack by Siam

1398

Parameswara, the last king of Singapura, flees the island

1400

Parameswara establishes the Malacca (or Melaka) Kingdom

1403

The first official Chinese envoy, Admiral Yin Ching, reaches Malacca. He builds diplomatic ties between China and Malacca.

1409

Admiral Cheng Ho arrives in Malacca to solidify ties between the nations

1459

Ming Emperor Yingzong (1427-1464)

Emperor Yingzong of China (posthumously Emperor Rui) conveys his daughter Princess Hang Li Po to wed Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca. She arrives with a retinue of five hundred noble damsels. As a gift to his bride, the king confers a hill for them to settle, naming it Bukit Cina. [Hers is an early case of Chinese and Malay racial mixing in the land, and historians regard her era as the dawn of the Peranakan people. Or Baba-Nyonya. ‘Straits Chinese’ is yet another term for them. It came about in the 19th century.]

1463

Ryukyu (now Okinawa) and Malacca establish diplomatic ties

1509

Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, the first known European to reach the Far East, arrives in Malacca

1511

Led by Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese capture and sack Malacca. The explorer Ferdinand Magellan lands soon after and gains a native boy slave. He names him Enrique de Malacca.

1512

The Portuguese build a fortress in Malacca, calling it ‘A Famosa’, meaning ‘The Famous’

Explorer Ferdinand Magellan

1545

Francis Xavier, the Basque Spaniard Catholic Missionary, arrives in Malacca, devoting his life to missions in Asia

1547

A samurai and noble named Anjirō of the Satsuma domain in Kagoshima reaches Malacca after fleeing Kyushu, Japan, over slaying a man. [Francis Xavier converts him to Catholicism, baptising him Paulo de Santa. He is the first Japanese Christian.]

1563

The Bugis-Portuguese writer and cartographer Manuel Godinho de Erédia is born in Malacca. [His books chronicle the Malay Peninsula’s early history.]

1641

With help from Johor, the Dutch defeat the Portuguese in Malacca. The Dutch reassign Bukit Cina to the Chinese.

1786

Ruins of ‘A Famosa’

Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company founds Penang as a trading and naval outpost. The sultan of Kedah agrees to their occupation for support against incursion by Siam. They name it Prince of Wales Island.

1795

The Kew Letters assign the administration of Malacca to the British

1816

Anglican missionaries set up the Penang Free School, an English institution open to all ethnicities

1819

Stamford Raffles signs a treaty establishing Singapore as a British settlement. The British East India Company sets up the port as a trading post.

1820

Tin mining begins in Perak

1824

Selangor opens its first tin mining operation

Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, Padang, Singapore – circa 1890

1826

The British East India Company, an agent of the UK Government, founds the Straits Settlements made up of four domains: Singapore; Penang and Province Wellesley; Malacca; and the Dindings. The Burney Treaty in June cedes the northern Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan and Patani, along with Perlis and Terengganu to Siam without representation from them in the negotiations. [‘It’s not quite cricket,’ as the English themselves would have to admit.]

1832

Singapore becomes the capital of the Strait Settlements

1867

The Strait Settlements becomes a Crown Colony of the British Empire

1869

The Suez Canal officially opens

1872

The Straits Settlements Police Force emerges, with their headquarters in Singapore

1877

Botanist Henry Nicholas Ridley plants the first rubber seedling at Kuala Kangsar in Perak. It births a vast industry which grows into a pillar of the country’s economy. [The tree continues to thrive. It is heritage listed.]

View fullsize

The Straits Settlements Map - circa 1893

1880s

Gold mining starts at Raub, in the foothills of Malaya’s main range

1884

Armenian Tigran Sarkies establishes the Eastern Hotel at the beachfront in George Town, Penang. His brothers Martin, Aviet and Arshak follow in his wake. They open the Oriental beside it in 1885.

1885

The Eastern & Oriental Hotel, George Town, Penang

Malaya gains its first railway track. It runs between Taiping and Port Weld.

1887

On 1 December, the Sarkies Brothers from Penang, open a modest ten-room Raffles Hotel in Singapore. It was in an old, refitted bungalow at 1 Beach Road, on the corner of Beach and Bras Basah Roads.

1888

The Raffles’s celebrated literary tradition begins. Joseph Conrad, a seaman, stays at the hotel, while Rudyard Kipling, who was on a round-the-world adventure, dines there.

1889

The Sarkies Brothers combine their lodges into the Eastern & Oriental Hotel - slangily the ‘E&O’ - turning it into an establishment enjoying the ‘longest seafront in the world.’ Luminaries like Dr Sun Yat-sen, W. Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling and Hermann Hesse become guests of the E&O. [Just as Raffles is iconic in Singapore, the E&O holds the same legendary status in Penang. It is located within George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.]

1894

The Raffles open its Palm Court wing

1899

Designed by Regent A. J. Bidwell of Swan & Maclaren, the iconic, colonial neo-Renaissance Raffles Main Building opens with great pomp and ceremony on 18 November. In a first, the hotel is fitted with electric lights and fans. [This date is widely recognised as the start of the hotel’s halcyon days.]

Bidwell’s most notable work include the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur (1897); and the Goodwood Hotel’s Tower Block (1900), the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (1909) in Singapore.

1901

The Sarkies Brothers open the Strand Hotel in Rangoon, Burma

1902

On 13 August, hunters pursue a tiger to the Raffles Hotel and killed it as it sheltered in the sub-floor void under the Bar & Billiard Room. [It is accepted as the last tiger killed in Singapore.]

1904

The Raffles opens its Bras Basah Wing. It prompts a news article to laud: it is ‘the most magnificent establishment of its kind East of Suez.’ It becomes the setting for untold social gatherings. It also attains worldwide renown, hosting travellers and from across the seas.

1907

The hotel extends its Bar & Billiard Room to accommodate six tables

Pulau Labuan, off the Borneo’s northwest coast, is incorporated into the Straits Settlements

1909

In the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Siam cede the states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu back to Malaya. They become British protectorates.

The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall in Empress Place, remodelled from the original Town Hall, opens

1910

A post office is added to the Raffles. It serves guests and the local community. [It ceased in the late-1920s.]

1911

The German-Swiss author and artist Hermann Hesse visits Penang. He describes Penang’s E&O as the ‘most beautiful hotel for Europeans in the East Indies.’ [I wonder if he considered the Raffles.]

1913

The Raffles opens its newest addition, a cast iron veranda to the main building’s front

The First World War & The Interwar Years

1914

The First World War begins on 28 July

German Cruiser SMS Emden - Artwork, circa 1915

On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS Emden sinks two Allied warships in the Penang Strait, off George Town. The naval engagement becomes known as the Battle of Penang.

1915

A. Dietz composes the ‘Raffles March’ and dedicates it to Tigran Sarkies

Raffles bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, a local of Hainanese extraction, creates the Singapore Sling and the Million Dollar Cocktail. [They were and still are iconic cocktails.]

Known as the Sepoy Mutiny, elements of the British Indian Army’s 5th Light Infantry revolt in Singapore. The Indian Muslim rebels object to being sent to fight the Ottoman Empire.

1918

World War One ends on 11 November. Australia urges the British Admiralty to prepare a stratagem for the Empire’s defence in the East.

1919

Britain draws up the Singapore Strategy, an Imperial naval defence policy, kicking off a series of war plans. Singapore rises as a cornerstone in the scheme. It becomes their main naval base in the Far East.

The Raffles Hotel – circa 1920-1939

1920

An added venue graces the Raffles, at once earning the distinction of the ‘finest ballroom in the East.’ Replacing the veranda, the structure is largely open on three sides allowing sea breezes to cool the vast space. It is used for dances, dinners and varied functions.

1921

W. Somerset Maugham joins the legion of celebrities to visit the Raffles. It is said he weaved the prattle and scandals he heard at the soirees and dinners into his tales, writing under the shade of a frangipani in the hotel’s Palm Court. Other notables to grace the Raffles include actors Jean Harlow, Maurice Chevalier and Charlie Chaplin, and writers Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad. [Writers take note: frangipani is toxic!]

1922

The British form the Straits Settlement Volunteer Force (SSVF), a reserve militia. [Its roots go back to 1854 with the formation of the Singapore Volunteer Rifle Corps.]

1923

Construction begins on His Majesty’s Naval Base in Sembawang

1929

The police establish their Training School

1930

R.C. Sherriff’s play Journey’s End is on at the Victoria Theatre

1931

The Great Depression crushes Malaya’s rubber trade. Its economy collapses.

The downturn forces the Sarkies Brothers’ business - and the Raffles and E&O Hotels - into receivership

The Straits Police open their Detective Branch at Robinson Road

1933

The hotel’s financial position improves. The closure of the Grand Hotel de l’Europe – its main competitor – assists the bottom line.

1937

Major General Arthur E. Percival reviews Malaya’s peril as Chief Staff Officer to the General Officer Commanding (GOC). He predicts the Japanese will land on the east coast in the peninsula’s north and in southern Thailand. After which, a foray south upon the shore of Johor. [On this, he was right.] However, he sees an attack on Singapore Island as being launched from Borneo for the Changi area. [In the event, they crossed the strait from the mainland and struck Sarimbun in the isle’s northwest.]

The foundation stone of the Supreme Court building is laid on 1 April 1937 [It was completed in 1939.]

1938

His Majesty’s Naval Base in Sembawang becomes operational

1939

Date unk.

The Japanese government establish their consulate in the Mount Emily Villa at 11 Upper Wilkie Road. It remains active until 1945. [The building is much in its original form today and has been heritage listed. It now hosts art, music and film events.]

The Chinese raise their Singapore Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army

The Cathay Building in 1945

23 June

PM Plaek Phibunsongkhram (aka Phibun) of Siam changes the country’s name to Thailand

11 July         

The Cathay Building opens at 2 Handy Road. Designed by Frank Wilmin Brewer, it comprises an air-conditioned cinema (a first), and is the first high-rise in Singapore and the tallest in Southeast Asia. The British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation sets up its headquarters in it. [In my view, its demolition in 2003 was a tragedy. An iconic edifice, it was of historical value and should have been preserved.]

Aug

The Far East Combined Bureau (FECB), an outpost of the British Government Code and Cypher School, moves from Hong Kong to Singapore. It sets up in the naval base, with a signals intercept post at Kranji. They spy on the wireless traffic of the Japanese, Chinese and Soviet intelligence services.

1 Sept

Germany invades Poland, triggering the Second World War. A ‘phoney war’ ensues in Malaya.

1940

May

The FECB devote forty personnel to decoding and reading the JN-25, the Japanese navy’s prime code before and during WWII

19 July

The British Military Hospital in the Alexandra district of Singapore officially opens

1941

Apr

Lt Gen Arthur E. Percival in Singapore - 1941

Lieutenant General A. E. Percival returns to Singapore as the GOC, Malaya. [He kept mixed feelings about his post, and has stated that it means ‘an inactive command for some years if war did not break out in the East.’ Or, if it did, ‘finding myself involved in a pretty sticky business with the inadequate forces which are usually to be found in the distant parts of our Empire.’ Once again, he was bang on.]

1 Dec

Admiral Sir Tom Phillips is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s Eastern Fleet while en route to Singapore with Force G

2 Dec

Force G arrives in Singapore without an aircraft carrier escort. It comprises the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the cruiser Repulse, plus four destroyers - the HMS Electra, Express, Encounter and Jupiter. The navy reassigns it as Force Z.

1941

The Battle for Malaya & Singapore

8 Dec

The Japanese invasion begins at 0030 on 8 Dec 1941 local (0200 Tokyo; 0630, 7 Dec in Hawaii) with offshore gunfire, followed by landings at Kota Bharu on Malaya’s northeast coast. Plus, over the border at Pattani and Singora in southern Thailand at 0145. [In real-time, the Pacific War began with the battle for Malaya, not the raid at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, which came eighty minutes later at 0748. A fact verified by historians.]

A fifth column known as ‘The Tortoise Society’ aids the invaders during their incursion

Mere hours later, at 0430, Singapore endures its first air attack. Although the radar posts in Singapore and Mersing report unknown aircraft bound for Singapore at 0330, the government neither issues an air-raid warning nor is the isle blacked out. Also, the RAF kept their fighters grounded on fears the raw ack-ack crews’ cannot pick friend from foe. Sixty-five bombers from two air groups strike the city, the military facilities in and around Keppel Harbour, and the Tengah and Seletar airfields. They flew 700 miles across the Gulf of Thailand from Indochina.

Force Z comprising HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse with the destroyers HMS Electra, Express, Tenedos and HMAS Vampire set sail, relying on land-based RAF fighters for air cover

HMS Prince of Wales arrives at Singapore - 4 Dec 1941

9 Dec

Penang suffers its first airstrike with Japanese bombers attacking Butterworth airfield and Bayan Lepas airport

10 Dec

Japanese aircraft sink the HMS Prince of Wales and the Repulse off Kuantan with massive loss of life, including Admiral Sir Tom Phillips

11 Dec

The Battle of Jitra begins and lasts until 13 December

13/14 Dec

The Straits regime evacuates Caucasian civilians from Penang. In a planned rescue, they make a hushed and swift, but ordered, departure during the wee hours of the night; to dodge discovery by the masses. At the docks, they ferry across to the mainland before boarding trains bound for Singapore. Others sail southwards on ships. They bar the Asians, even the Eurasians, from leaving.

[It was an egregious event. Their flight shocked the locals when the sun rose. The guile and bigotry shown by the British evoked deep resentment and shredded the trust the Malayans kept for them. The Battle For Singapore by Peter Thompson recounts Britain’s ‘greatest defeat and largest capitulation.’ Chapter 12 Disgrace at Penang discusses the dire events that took place on the isle. Also, Christopher Bayly argues that ‘the moral collapse of British rule in Southeast Asia came not at Singapore, but at Penang.’ As a result, Britain never regained its prestige in Malaya. Nor in the Orient.]

The Caucasian evacuees gather at the Raffles after their journey from the peninsula.

Japanese Bombing Attack on HMS Prince of Wales and the Repulse - 10 Dec 1941

15 Dec

The RAF abandons Butterworth airfield in Province Wellesley

16 Dec

Tengah Airfield in Singapore comes under attack. The Japanese land in Borneo, capturing Jesselton by 8 Jan 1942

16-17 Dec

The last Allied troops withdraw from Penang

18 Dec

Fearful of a full-scale assault and needless deaths, local leaders on Penang take the initiative. They air to the Japanese by radio broadcast that the British had vacated the isle.

18-19 Dec

The invaders occupy Pulau Pinang (Penang Island)

22 Dec

Taiping, Perak falls

25 Dec

The Straits Government raises the Singapore Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army. A guerrilla unit, it takes on the byname of ‘Dalforce’ after its leader Lt Col John Dalley of the Federated Malay States Police. [The Chinese had formed it in 1939. Despite the looming danger, the British stood defiant, rejecting support.]

29 Dec

HMS Prince of Wales sinking - 10 Dec 1941

Singapore suffers its second air raid, after which they occur nightly. Four heavy assaults occur on the naval base with scant damage. Eleven casualties.

30 Dec

Martial law, without a curfew, is declared in Singapore

The Battle of Kampar begins, lasting until 2 January

Meanwhile, on the east coast, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) reaches Kuantan in Johor state. Japanese planes attack Allied troops as they ferry across the Kuantan River. The Allies destroy it the following day.

1942

Type 97 ‘Te-Ke’ Japanese Tanks at the Battle of Kampar

5 Jan

The Battle of Slim River begins and lasts till 7 January

8 Jan

The Japanese overrun the outer defences of Kuala Lumpur

11 Jan

Allied forces abandon Kuala Lumpur

12 Jan

Singapore endures the first major daylight air raid

14 Jan

The final major battle of the Malayan Campaign takes place at Muar from 14 to 22 January. A component engagement at Gemas, a key road and rail hub, occurs.

Two-Pounder Anti-Tank Gun, 4th Reg, AIF at Bakri, Muar - 18 Jan 1942

15 Jan

The Japanese capture Muar as Allied units pull back towards Singapore

21 Jan

The IJA takes Endau on Malaya’s East Coast

23 Jan

Japanese soldiers slaughter 150 Australian and Indian POWs in what becomes infamous as the Parit Sulong Massacre

26-27 Jan

The IJN damages the HMS Vampire and sinks the HMS Thanet in a naval engagement known as the Battle of Endau

A Column of Smoke from Fires at the Naval Base, Singapore - Jan 1942

30 Jan

A curfew from 9 pm to 5 am is put in effect in Singapore

30/31 Jan

Under the cloak of darkness, the remnants of the Allies begin their withdrawal onto Singapore Island, while the 2nd Bn, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders secure the mainland end of the causeway. The penultimate troops, the Australians, cross at dawn, after which the Argylls march proudly over, with bagpipes skirling to ‘Hielan’ Laddie.’ Counting 250 survivors, the Scots saw continuous battle since the start of the campaign.

31 Jan

ARP Volunteers Fighting Fires - 1942

The IJA seizes Johor Bahru. Peninsula Malaya falls. Allied sappers blow a 70-foot gap in the causeway, severing it.

1 Feb

The Japanese repair the Johor Causeway

5 Feb

Pulau Ubin in the Johor Strait, north of Changi, comes under attack                              

8 Feb

The invasion of the island begins. The IJA’s 5th and 18th Divisions cross the Johor Strait and land at Sarimbun on the northwest coast of Singapore. By morning, they number 23,000, countered by 3,000 troops of the 22nd Australian Brigade. There is no reserve.

10 Feb

Japanese Landings at Sarimbun, Singapore Island - 8 Feb 1942

As a result of miscommunication at the senior command level, the Allies leave the Jurong-Kranji Defence Line (aka Jurong Switch Line) wide open. And the enemy advances through it by the latter part of the day. The RAF withdraw the few remaining aircraft from Singapore. The island ensues without air cover.

11 Feb

The Battle of Bukit Timah takes place. A vital village, its subsequent loss allows the Japanese through to seize the supply depots and reservoirs in the isle’s centre.

Dalforce volunteer Lim Bo Seng escapes Singapore. He makes for India, via Sumatra and China. While there, he is appointed a colonel and made Force 136’s operations officer for Malaya.

Singapore Railway Station damaged by bombs - 1942-1943

13 Feb

The Battle of Pasir Panjang begins at 1400 hours. 2nd Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi leads his platoon in a heroic battle, resisting the enemy for two days in the Bukit Chandu area. The Japanese capture and execute him, hanging him upside down from a tree. [Reportedly, they put him to death for refusing to surrender. Both Singapore and Malaysia, where he was born, venerate Adnan as a war hero. His bronze bust is on exhibit at Reflections at Bukit Chandu, a centre commemorating the battle.]

14 Feb

Air Raid Warden dousing an Incendiary Bomb, Singapore - 1942

The Japanese storm the British Military Hospital Alexandra (aka ‘The Alex’) killing an officer with a white flag who turns up to greet them. They murder patients on the operating tables and in their beds, slaying the doctors and orderlies the following day. The toll is some 300 victims. [It is now known as the Alexandra Hospital Massacre.]

Singapore City, overcrowded with the island’s population and refugees, suffers under siege

15 Feb

Lt Gen. Arthur Percival, GOC Malaya signs the instrument of surrender at 1715 hours at the Ford Factory in Bukit Timah. Hostilities cease at 2030.

Defiant British colonials at the Raffles sing ‘There Will Always Be An England’

1942

The Occupation

16 Feb

Lim Bo Seng, Businessman, Resistance Fighter with Force 136, War Hero – circa 1930s

The Nipponese occupy Singapore, renaming it Syonan-to, meaning the ‘Light of the South Island.’ Likewise, the Raffles Hotel and The Straits Times become the Syonan Ryokan and Syonan Shimbun respectively. They use the latter to convey their decrees to the locals. The price of each edition is seven cents.

The Gunseikanbu - their Central Military Administration - takes charge of the island. Their first task is to change the clock to match Tokyo and gathering resources to support their war. Then schemes to ‘Japanise’ the natives. They make learning Nihongo mandatory in schools.

The 2nd Field Kempeitai of the IJA’s 25th Army seizes the art deco YMCA building at 1 Orchard Road for its headquarters

Almost at once, the Japanese set up ‘comfort stations’ across the island for their troops’ diversion. They enslave women, some minors, numbering in the hundreds - Korean, Chinese, Malay and others - naming them ‘comfort women’. At Cairnhill Road, it is not a single house, but a zone of terraces. [It lies between two of the isle’s famed tourist hotspots today: Orchard Road and the Newton Food Centre. To date, the women have received scant redress. Should the topic interest you, I suggest: The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory by Professor K.P. Blackburn.]

2nd Lt Adnan bin Saidi, Hero of the Battle of Pasir Panjang

18 Feb

The infamous Kakyō Shukusei begins in Singapore, at no less than eleven mass killing fields across the isle. They slay those deemed ‘anti-Japanese’ and ‘undesirable’, including the Dalforce survivors. The massacre lasts until 4 March. Thereafter, the slaughter extends to the mainland. [The purge became known as the Sook Ching.]

25 Feb

The Imperial Japanese Navy’s 11th Submarine Flotilla sets up its base at Swettenham Pier in George Town, Penang. [It also serves the German U-boats.]

Mar

At the occupying power’s bidding, the locals form an Overseas Chinese Association. Rather than a noble cause, it is a channel by which they extort the Chinese while holding their kin hostage. [Through it, they gain $50 million in ‘donations’ by the occupation’s end. A vast sum in the 1940s.]

Japanese Troops march into Singapore City - Feb 1942

General Tomoyuki Yamashita with Mamoru Shinozaki, Singapore - 1942

The Selarang Barracks, Changi POW Camp, Singapore – 2 Sept 1942

1943

24 May

Captain John Davis, a former Straits police Special Branch officer, leads Force 136’s first foray into Malaya. Along with a team of five other resistance fighters, Special Operation Gustavus I launches from Ceylon on the Dutch submarine HrMs O 24, under the command of LtCdr W.J. de Vries, RNN. They land north of Pangkor Island in the Dindings area, Perak.

25 June

Gustavus II, commanded by Captain Richard Broome – a former Straits civil servant - sails from Trincomalee, Ceylon for the Malacca Strait on the Dutch submarine HrMs O 23 (LtCdr A.M. Valkenburg, RNN). They rendezvous with a junk south of Sembilan Island, where a two-way transfer of operatives occur. The men of Gustavus II proceed on the junk to Malaya.

July

In yet another bout of territorial ping-pong, the Japanese yield the Malayan States of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu to Thailand per the terms of their military alliance. [Prior to WWII, Thailand had been a fascist state for a decade, and was (said to be) neutral. That was until the Japanese began their quest for Malaya on 8 December 1941. Thailand and Japan formalised their pact on the 21st of the same month.]

4 Aug

HrMs O 23 carries out Special Operation Gustavus III, in a repeat of Gustavus II. It transports further agents and supplies to the junk for an eventual landing at Segari, north of Pulau Pangkor.

Japanese Submarine I-10 at Penang - 1942

27 Aug

U-178 under Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Dommes arrives in Penang to form and command their U-Boat base alongside the IJN. It hosts their Monsun Gruppe which operates in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. [It was active until Dec 1944 when the Germans withdrew to Singapore.]

1 Sept

The Nipponese descend upon a secret summit of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) near the Batu Caves, slaying a hundred leaders. [Lai Teck, a CPM senior, was absent, citing car trouble. But he was a double agent. He betrayed the meeting. In 1946, he vanished after others raised questions regarding his loyalty. He died in 1947 in a botched attempt at capture by the communists.]

MV Krait at Darwin, NT, Australia – circa 1942-1945

2 Sept

Operation Jaywick departs Exmouth, Western Australia. Led by Major Ivan Lyon, the Anglo-Australian ‘Z’ Special Unit (aka ‘Z Force’) team of fourteen men sail 3,960 km (2,138 nautical miles) to Singapore on the MV Krait; a 70-foot Japanese wooden fishing boat once named the Kofuku Maru. Prior to the mission, they voyaged from Broken Bay in NSW, via Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. ‘Z’ Special Unit is the covert action arm of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), the Eastern equal of the British SOE.

12 Sept

Operation Gustavus IV embarks on HrMs O 24 to resupply Gustavus I and transfer personnel including Captain (later Major) Richard Broome. It is his second trip. They rendezvous with John Davis aboard the junk on 20 Sept. Broome and one Chinese and, along with Davis, make landfall close to Davis’s original landing site.

Special Operatives of Operation Jaywick, MV Krait en route to Singapore – Sept 1943

18 Sept

The Krait heaves to and disembarks the attack team of six special operatives and their kit onto Pulau Panjang. [Thereafter, it departs to cruise the seas around Borneo before returning to retrieve the men on the night of 1-2 October at Pulau Pompong.]

20-22 Sept

The commandos paddle, isle hopping towards the north of the island group with the aim of setting up a forward operating base (FOB). On 22 Sept, they gain Pulau Dongas, south-southeast across from Singapore and approximately 17 km (9.2 nm) from Keppel Harbour.

24/25 Sept

They launch their raid enticed by shipping totalling an estimated 65,000 tonnes. But opt to abort when they find unfavourable tidal currents. They shift westward to Pulau Subar and spend the day observing the anchorage.

The Operation Jaywick team after their successful mission - Oct 1943

25/26 Sept

The ‘Z Force’ saboteurs leave their FOB. Paddling paired in their folboats, they set limpet mines on several Japanese ships, then withdrew to their hideout. Their devices detonate early on the morning of 26 September. [Afterwards, they waited for the uproar to calm before making for the Krait. They regain it on 2 October. The mission ended on 19 October, without casualties, after an uneventful return voyage. While they claimed seven ships sunk or damaged, a post-war review of Japanese logs showed three ships sunk and three damaged. Just the same, it stands as one of the most daring special operations of WWII, comprising the deepest surface ingress through enemy territory. The MV Krait rests at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.]

10 Oct

Lim Bo Seng & Tan Chong Tee, Force 136 (Group B) in India - circa 1942-1943

In the wake of the shipping raid, the Kempeitai, in imagining a local plot, arrest and torture fifty-seven civilians on suspicion of collusion in the attack. They include Bishop John Wilson of St Andrew’s Cathedral; and Elizabeth Choy and her husband Choy Khun Heng who suffer months of torment. [At length, she was released while he received a sentence of 12 years. In the end, they put fifteen people to death in Changi Prison. No locals knew of the operation. The killing is termed the ‘Double Tenth Incident’.]

25 Oct

HrMs O 24 departs Ceylon to convey Operation Gustavus V, which includes Major Lim Bo Seng, and Captain F.P.W. Harrison, an ex-planter. Based on the intel he gains at the rendezvous on the junk - the surge of Japanese patrols in the area - Lim deems landing Caucasians too risky. He braves the danger himself and lands alone, along with two wireless transmitter (W/T) sets. And other supplies, not least printing material.

Dec

The Japanese regime forms the seicho or labour service corps. [Counting 280,000 forced workers at its start, they draft more from non-essential occupations in 1944. They also extend it to include women.]

1944

HMS Tally-Ho – May 1943

11 Jan

Royal Navy submarine HMS Tally-Ho sinks the IJN light cruiser Kuma in the Malacca Strait, west of Penang Island

Mar/Apr

Lim Bo Seng of Force 136 leaves their Bukit Bidor camp to expand their intelligence network and raise funds. The Japanese capture him at a roadblock in Gopeng, Perak. [He dies from illness brought on by torture on 29 June. Singapore and Malaysia revere Lim as a war hero. A memorial in his honour stands in the Esplanade Park, Singapore.]

Japanese Cruiser Kuma – circa 1937

17 July

RN submarine HMS Telemachus sinks the IJN Kadai class submarine I-166 in the Malacca Strait

11 Sept

Lt Col Ivan Lyon leads Operation Rimau, sailing from Fremantle aboard the submarine HMS Porpoise. Rimau is a repeat of Jaywick, except the raiders are conveyed to Pulau Merapas in the Riau Islands. After which, they are to hijack a native craft for the ensuing leg. [The mission was ill-fated. Over weeks, the ‘Z’ men were hunted and killed in firefights. Of the twenty-three, eleven were captured and imprisoned in Outram Gaol in Singapore. One died from Malaria, while the rest were executed at Pasir Panjang on 7 July 1945. They are buried at Kranji War Cemetery.]

1945

Jan-June

Sandakan Death Marches, Borneo - In a series of marches, the Japanese force malnourished POWs to trek from Sandakan to Ranau. The remaining POWs unable to walk were shot or they succumb to sickness and starvation. A total of 2,434 POWs perish.

20 Feb

The Imperial Japanese Navy’s submarine base in Penang is abandoned

30 Apr

Adolf Hitler suicides by self-inflicted gunshot

7 May

Germany yields. General Alfred Jodl signs the surrender document at Reims, France. After which the Soviets insist on a separate signing in Berlin. It occurs on 8 May. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day).

27 June

The 9th Australian Division fight the Japanese in the Battle of North Borneo

6 Aug

The USA detonates ‘Little Boy’ atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan

9 Aug

The USA drops ‘Fat Man’ atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan

15 Aug

Emperor Hirohito announces the surrender of the Empire of Japan

1945

Japan Surrenders Malaya

Changi Gaol & POW Camp, Singapore – Aug 1945

15 Aug

The British Military Administration (BMA) is created to govern Malaya in the interim

2 Sept

Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day). Japan formalises its capitulation aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. It ends WWII. Former POW General Percival is invited as a witness. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur presents him with the pen he used to sign the Instrument of Surrender.

4 Sept

C Coy, 2/29th Bn soldiers at Changi POW Camp - 1945

The Japanese surrender on board HMS Sussex in Keppel Harbour, Singapore

5 Sept

The British return. The BMA begins its administration of Malaya

The BMA requisitions the Raffles Hotel as a temporary transit lodge for POWs

12 Sept

The Japanese in South Asia surrender at a ceremony in the Municipal Building, Singapore. It is presided by Lord Louis Mountbatten and witnessed by officers of the armed services as well as the leaders of the Malayan states including the Sultan of Johore. A number of former POWs are also present. It marks the end of the Occupation in Southeast Asia. [The former City Hall is a National Monument. And has been reborn as the National Gallery.]

[Was there a genuine need for a separate surrender ceremony? Or was it just political expediency? It is a question that crossed my mind, given the Japanese had surrendered to all the warring nations ten days prior in Tokyo. There was also an earlier signing of surrender terms on board HMS Sussex in Keppel Harbour. Call it cynical, but it seems to me an attempt by the British (at the time) to salvage their prestige lost in Asia. Why? First, because of the loss of their ‘jewel’ in Asia, Singapore: the much flaunted ‘impregnable fortress’ that never was. Second, their failures before and during the campaign (e.g. their complacency; neglecting jungle warfare training; not supplying tanks; pushing the flawed view that the Japanese cannot traverse the jungle). And indeed, there was their appalling conduct in Penang.]

Malaya abandons the occupation time which corresponded with Tokyo and returns to its pre-war time (GMT +7.30)

Japanese Surrender of Singapore – 12 Sept 1945

23 Sept

Thailand returns Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu to Malaya once again

1946

The Return to British Rule & Beyond

Kranji War Cemetery - 11 Dec 2016

Date unk.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission establishes the Kranji War Cemetery

13 Jan 1946

Lim Bo Seng’s funeral takes place at City Hall, following which he is interred with full military honours on a hill overlooking the MacRitchie Reservoir. [It was the spot where he courted his wife. He was posthumously made a major general by the Republic of China (now Taiwan).]

21 Jan 1946

The first of 131 war crime trials begins at the Supreme Court building on St Andrew’s Road. The last case ends on 12 March 1948.

1 Apr 1946

The Straits Settlements dissolves. Singapore becomes a British Crown Colony, with Sir Franklin Charles Gimson as Governor. Penang, Malacca and the Dindings join the new Malayan Union.

June 1946

The British bestow various awards for gallantry on local heroes, Elizabeth Choy and her husband Choy Khun Heng. It includes the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

25 July 1946

Elizabeth Choy receives the honour of a private audience with Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother during Elizabeth II’s reign) at St James’s Palace, London

16 June 1948 ~ The Malayan Emergency begins with armed attacks on Europeans and their tin mines by members of the Communist Party of Malaya. Three plantation managers are murdered. It is termed the Sungai Siput incident. [The locals knew it as the Anti-British National Liberation War. It lasts until 31 July 1960.]

6 Oct 1951

Members of the MCP assassinate Sir Henry Gurney, the British High Commissioner, in Fraser’s Hill

1953

The Grill at the Raffles Hotel is renamed Elizabethan Grill to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

2 Mar 1957

Sir Robert Black, the then Governor of Singapore and former POW, unveils the Kranji War Memorial

31 Aug 1957

An independent Federation of Malaya forms with Tunku Abdul Rahman as Prime Minister

30 May 1959

Lee Kuan Yew is elected as the first Prime Minister of a limited self- governing Singapore

15 June 1963

Singapore commemorates The Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation (commonly called the Civilian War          Memorial)

16 Sept 1963

The Federation of Malaya becomes the Federation of Malaysia and expands to include Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (present day Sabah)

9 Aug 1965

Malaysia expels Singapore from the Federation. Singapore becomes an independent nation

Oct 1971

British military forces withdraw from Singapore, leaving a token behind. The remainder leave in 1976

1973

Australian military forces withdraw completely from Malaysia and Singapore

1987

The Singapore Government assigns ‘National Monument’ status upon the Raffles Hotel

The Raffles Hotel - 2015

Attributions:

Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Penang - ‘E & O Hotel te Penang’ by Anonymous. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KITLV_A723_-_E_%26_O_Hotel_te_Penang,_KITLV_100284.tiff | We share this photo under the same Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Cropped and retouched.

Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore - ‘CWGC Singapore 6’ by Tony Hisgett, Birmingham, UK. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CWGC_Singapore_6_(32102456386).jpg | We share this photo under the same Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. Resized, brightened.